some walls, a window and a door
by Kinz.911
Summary: Aoko faces three choices. She can climb through a window, go through a door, or wait for something that might not happen.


She was once told never to keep a secret. In keeping secrets you're telling a lie without words. And no one trusts a liar. It's a survival instinct. But what happens if a secret is kept and the one it's being kept from is in love with the keeper?

If some one is bothering you, ignore them and they'll stop. If something is bothering you, get up and move away. But what if that something is a secret a friend is keeping? What if it's a secret that was discovered and never voiced?

What do you choose, family or friend? Love or Home? What if you can't choose? What then?

You ignore it.

If you pretend something doesn't exist, it doesn't exist. At least… that's what we all like to think.

Nakamori Aoko stood before her class with a piece of white chalk in her hand, she stood facing the faces of her peers with a bright smile as she delivered a well rehearsed speech about a book called the 'Scarlet Letter.' It's a book she's read in English class, all of the words were in English and all of the words were like knives as she deciphered them, translating them into standard Japanese writing.

It didn't hurt because Aoko has never been gifted with the English language, it hurt because of the moral of the story. Never keep a secret. And she happened to know someone in the very room she was standing in was a liar.

Things didn't work out well for Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. And though Aoko bore no scarlet letter 'A' across her chest, she felt the weight of the secret she was keeping. She only wondered if her friend felt it too.

In the story Hester had committed adultery and had a baby girl named 'Pearl' the father or this child was Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. No one knew who the father was, though they were anxious to get said information. The weight of the well-kept secret was killing the man.

And now, Aoko found she felt the role reversed. She was Dimmesdale, and Kaito was Hester. By some weird figuring, Kid was Pearl. Kaito did not seem phased by the secret, and here she was struggling with each day, trying to pretend she didn't know what she knew. Kaito was the elusive international criminal 1412, or more commonly known as Kaitou Kid.

The key difference between the parallel was that Kaito did not know Aoko knew. Nor did she ever plan to tell him. Telling Kaito she knew would be admitting that he lied to her and was keeping a secret.

And secrets were bad.

They were like blue prints to build a wall. Carefully told lies were the bricks to build it. And it was being built.

There was a wall separating her from him and she had nothing to knock it down with. It truly felt as if the only thing she could do was sit on the other side and act as though it wasn't there. And she knew it was.

The more time he spent away from her the more obvious it became. She could feel it building with every excuse he made. And part of her wants to climb the wall and the other part wants to stay where she is, where it's safe. Where she can't fall back down because she never left the ground. Safe and solid ground.

But is it really safe if no one is on the side of the wall she's on? She clears her throat and sets her paper on the podium, smiling as her peers clap their hands for well-delivered speech. Next is Kaito's turn.

She doesn't pay attention to his report; she has no interest in it. She takes her seat and holds her hands in her lap, pretending to listen. Her mind wanders over to other things. More walls. A few windows. And a door.

One wall is the same one she's most familiar with, it's the same one her father built every night he chased after kid, for every word he should have said there is a brick, sealing him away from her.

But in this wall there is a small window, so that she may talk to him and see into his side. She's never bothered looking through that window, she only goes to it when she's called. She did not intend to make an annoyance of herself when she knew how hard her dad worked. And she knew this wall was what he had to show for it.

Strong and solid; just like its creator.

And it would never come down.

The window is just big enough that she could probably squeeze through. It's low enough she wouldn't hurt herself should she lose her footing and fall to the ground. But it did mean leaving Kaito's wall.

And losing the chance that someday he might help her over the tall structure he'd crafted.

Behind her is another wall, a new wall, one that she's not sure how it got there but knows it's there nonetheless.

This is the wall belongs to the student who sat directly behind her. He built the wall the same way her dad did. Unspoken words become bricks and excuses hold it together.

A detective built this wall, so the carefully placed bricks will not easily come undone. He's a professional carpenter when it comes to building a mental wall. But unlike the others, a door is evident.

This door is unlocked and welcomes her inside. She wants to go through, she wants to join the detective on the other side and maybe find that the wall is connected to her father's. So she can be a daughter again and not just a roommate.

Hakuba Saguru has been kind enough to leave his door open for her, to encourage her join him, and she wants too, _God _does she want too.

But.

There's Kaito's wall.

And behind it stands Kuroba Kaito.

And so she stays, in hopes that one day he will install an unlocked door she can join him through.


End file.
